Leading Organisational Development and Learning 5 credits

Organisations face unprecedented pressure to adapt and reinvent themselves amid market disruptions, geopolitical turbulence, and shifting stakeholder expectations. Organisational leadership increasingly confronts situations where adaptation cannot be managed through predefined change programs alone but requires the continuous development of organisational learning capabilities. The central challenge is not simply implementing change initiatives, but enabling organisations to learn, adjust, and coordinate collective action under conditions of uncertainty and competing interests. In this course, you will examine how change leadership shapes organisational development by enabling collective learning processes. You will learn how leadership practices interact with organisational structures, cultures, and power dynamics to influence whether organisations successfully adapt to new challenges. Rather than treating change as a discrete event or managerial project, the course approaches organisational development as an ongoing process of learning, diagnosis, experimentation, and institutionalisation. You will explore how to identify systemic barriers to learning, design interventions that foster adaptation, and embed learning mechanisms within organisational routines. The course also examines how organisational cultures and sub-cultures shape development initiatives. Particular attention is given to the relational and behavioural conditions that enable learning, including psychological safety, voice, and feedback processes. You will analyse how organisational structures, technological change, and cultural assumptions interact to either support or undermine collective learning. You will develop the ability to diagnose organisational learning barriers using systemic frameworks and identify how culture, power, and structure shape organisational adaptation. You will also learn to design organisational development interventions as learning experiments and evaluate how these interventions can be institutionalised over time. The course emphasises practices that foster collective learning, experimentation, and adaptation across teams and organisational units. By the end of the course, you will be able to analyse complex organisational situations, propose development interventions grounded in theory, and articulate how leadership behaviours influence the capacity of organisations to learn and evolve. <br> **Connection to Research ** The course is grounded in current research in organisational development, leadership, and organisational learning, drawing on contemporary literature in organisational behavior and management studies. You will critically engage with research on topics such as organisational diagnosis, culture and subcultures, psychological safety, and leadership behaviors that enable collective learning. Rather than focusing on prescriptive tools, the course emphasises the use of research-based frameworks to analyse organisational development challenges and design interventions as learning processes. The course also connects to research conducted at JIBS, including work within JIBS research centres and by individual scholars on organisational transformation and the implementation of emerging technologies, where questions of learning, adaptation, and organisational renewal are central. **Connection to Practice ** The course connects theory with practice by focusing on real organisational development challenges faced by leaders in complex and changing environments. You will apply research-based frameworks to diagnose learning barriers, analyse organisational dynamics, and design development interventions. Practical relevance is reinforced through exercises such as organisational learning diagnostics, intervention design workshops, and case discussions based on real organisational situations. These activities will enable you to translate theoretical insights into leadership practices relevant for managing development and learning processes in contemporary organisations. **Connection to Ethics, Responsibility, Sustainability (ERS) ** Ethics, responsibility, and sustainability perspectives are integrated through the course’s focus on leadership responsibility in shaping organisational cultures, learning processes, and development initiatives. You will examine how power, culture, and psychological safety influence whether employees can speak up, share knowledge, and participate responsibly in organisational development processes. Course discussions address the ethical responsibilities of leaders when implementing organisational changes, particularly in relation to transparency, inclusion, and the treatment of stakeholders. Assignments and exercises will enable you to consider how leadership practices and development interventions can foster responsible organisational behavior and sustainable learning capabilities.